Christian Kabbalah

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The Christian Kabbalah was a movement that is mostly regarded as a phenomenon of the Renaissance and used the Jewish Kabbalah to search for a Christian meaning in it or to convert Jews to Christianity . To distinguish between Jewish and Hermetic Kabbalah , a notation with C, like Cabala , is often used ; this notation came up with the translation of Kabbalistic texts into Latin .

history

The first attempts to convert Jews with the help of Kabbalistic ideas were made by Ramon Llull in the Middle Ages , but Llull himself was not a Kabbalist. In the case of the prophetic Kabbalist Abraham Abulafia , some scholars such as MH Landauer saw a turn to Christian ideas, but Abulafia expressed himself anti-Christian. However, Abulafia influenced the development of Christian Kabbalah. In 1480 the Latin translation of the pre-Kabbalistic Sefer Jetzira was published by Master Isaak.

The first Christian Kabbalist, apart from converts , is Giovanni Pico della Mirandola (15th century); The first Christian Kabbalistic work is considered to be two allegedly forged Hebrew letters that Pablo de Heredia translated into Latin and commented on, but his work largely consists of quotations from nonexistent Kabbalistic works and falsified quotations from real Kabbalistic sources such as the Zohar . Christian Kabbalistic teachings were systematized for the first time by Paulus Ricius , who was also familiar with lesser known texts. He worked as a translator, among other things, of Josef Gikatilla's main work Scha'are Orah , in Ricii's translation Portae lucis 'The gates of light'. The convert Pietro Colonna Galatino , who wrote De arcanis Catholicae veritatis 'On Arcane Catholic Truth', was also familiar with the sources of Kabbalah . In the 16th century, translations of the Sefer Jetzira and the Zohar by Guillaume Postel and a bilingual edition (Hebrew / Latin) of the Sefer Jetzira by Johannes Stephanus Rittangelus appeared. With Artis cabalisticae, Johannes Pistorius the Younger published a selection of Kabbalistic texts, including Ricii Portae lucis and the Sefer-Jetzira translation of 1480. The best-known compilation of Jewish and Christian Kabbalistic texts, however, is probably the Kabbala denudata by Christian Knorr von Rosenroth , which is also Jewish Contained texts from the period after the expulsion from Spain .

Elements of Kabbalah can also be found in contemporary magical works by authors such as Johannes Trithemius , Heinrich Cornelius Agrippa von Nettesheim (in connection with medieval angelology , demonology and the associated magic in Book 3 of De occulta philosophia) and John Dee , in Dee's Kabbalistic influences probably exclusively from Christian sources, especially from Agrippa. From the late 16th century onwards, alchemy and Christian Kabbalah were mixed up by Paracelsus, among others. This developed into the 17th and 18th centuries, was typical for Heinrich Khunrath , Abraham von Frankenberg and Robert Fludd , among others , and reached its climax with Georg von Wellings Opus Mago-Cabbalisticum and the books by Friedrich Christoph Oetinger .

Representatives of a current known as occult philosophy, such as Agrippa and Pico, attempted to develop philosophies that assimilate Hermetic , Hebrew, and Classical knowledge, and to unite this fusion with Christian theology . Despite their esoteric character, the hermetic and cabbalistic ideas underlying occult philosophy were initially well received in Renaissance Europe. Historian Frances A. Yates even considered occult philosophy to be the central driving force behind the Renaissance itself. It is probably no coincidence that occult philosophy, which emphasized unity, became popular during the Reformation and the Renaissance; possibly it and its association of sources as diverse as classical wisdom, magic, Hebrew Kabbalah, and Christianity were expected to provide a solution to the religious and political schism of the time. While the scholastic Middle Ages demanded faith and piety, the Renaissance demanded individual striving and the search for knowledge; the hermetic tried to unite knowledge and belief. However, towards the end of the 16th century, Christian magi such as Agrippa and John Dee were suspected of their theurgy , and as part of the Counter-Reformation the reaction against Renaissance Neoplatonism and associated occult currents also grew . The Christian Kabbalah, which initially served to legitimize occult thought, has now been devalued because of the occult association and associated with witchcraft. Dee and Giordano Bruno were discredited because of their philosophy; the former spent his final years in poverty, the latter was burned in 1600.

Later Christian Kabbalists often followed Pico and Reuchlin, who had used second-hand sources themselves; few learned from Jews and in the Hebrew language, but often did not get far beyond the books from which they had learned the language.

The Christian Kabbalists were of great importance for the creation of the Hermetic Kabbalah.

criticism

As in the Jewish Kabbalah, there was no uniform teaching in the Christian Kabbalah, but rather practically oriented Kabbalists who also used magic , and theoretically oriented Kabbalists who rejected magic.

Followers of the Christian Kabbalah took the view that Jewish teachings were valuable for Christianity and that Judaism contained more truth than Christians claim. In particular in the Kabbalah they saw Christian truths and looked for parallels between Judaism and Christianity; Christianity should be portrayed as the successor and improvement of Judaism without losing respect for Judaism. With the help of the Christian Kabbalah they tried to convert the Jews and thus to use the Kabbalah (which they misunderstood and falsified from a Jewish-Kabbalistic point of view) as a weapon against them. Two falsifications from the 15th century that preach Christianity openly were probably responsible for the Christian reinterpretation of Kabbalah.

Due to a lack of knowledge, Christian Kabbalists could not distinguish talmudic commentaries from Kabbalistic teachings and only had fragments of Kabbalistic knowledge available; in the case of Johannes Reuchlin, for example, it can be assumed that this ignorance was put forward and served to save Jewish books; the Talmud, for example, was viewed as evil and the Kabbalah as a source of Christian truths, and the claim that certain Talmudic works were Kabbalistic could save them from being burned. According to Gershom Scholem, the ignorance of some authors is “horrific. Robert Fludd thought the Zohar was a rabbi ! ”.

When searching for Christian content in the Kabbalah, the three different letters in the Tetragrammaton were interpreted as the Trinity , or the three top emanations in the Kabbalistic tree of life were transferred to the three hypostases of Christian God or Jesus Christ . Rachel Pollack regards the latter as the greatest innovation in Christian Kabbalah. In addition, Christian Kabbalists used methods such as Notarikon to find a Christian meaning in the Torah ; Gematria , Notarikon and Temura , which “are regarded as particularly 'kabbalistic' in popular opinion”, were overrated by Christian Kabbalists in their importance and “often take a back seat” in classical kabbalistic literature.

Followers of Christian Kabbalah were more interested in searching for Greek philosophy or Christian content in Kabbalah than in Kabbalah itself. Also, the feminine moment of God in the Shechina or the lowest Sephira Malchuth was not adopted in the Christian Kabbalah.

literature

  • Giulio Busi, Simonetta M. Bondoni, Saverio Campanini (eds.): The Great Parchment. Flavius ​​Mithidates' Latin Translation, The Hebrew Text, and an English Version ; Turin: Nino Aragno, 2004.
  • Saverio Campanini (Ed.): The Book of Bahir. Flavius ​​Mithridates' Latin Translation, the Hebrew Text, and an English Version ; Turin: Nino Aragno, 2005.
  • Ernst Benz : The Christian Kabbalah: A stepchild of theology. Rhein-Verlag, Zurich et al. 1958.
  • Otto Betz [senior]: Light from the uncreated light. The kabbalistic school chart of Princess Antonia . 3rd edition, edited by Isolde Betz. Verlag Werner Grimm, Tübingen, October 2013; ISBN 978-3-00-041501-2 . 108 pages, 50 partly full-page pictures.
  • Saverio Campanini: An unknown commentary on the “Song of Songs” from the Kabbalistic school of Francesco Zorzi ; in: G. Frank, A. Hallacker, S. Lalla (eds.): Narrative reason ; Berlin: Akademie Verlag, 2006; Pp. 265-281.
  • Saverio Campanini: Francesco Giorgio's Criticism of the Vulgata: “Hebraica Veritas” or “Mendosa Traductio”? In: G. Busi (Ed.): Hebrew to Latin, Latin to Hebrew. The Mirroring of Two Cultures in the Age of Humanism ; Berlin Studies in Judaism 1; Turin: Nino Aragno Editore, 2006; Pp. 206-231.
  • JL Blau: The Christian Interpretation of the Cabala in the Renaissance , New York: Columbia University Press, 1944.
  • Joseph Dan (Ed.): The Christian Kabbalah: Jewish Mystical Books and their Christian Interpreters , Cambridge, Mass., 1997.
  • Joseph Dan: Modern Times: The Christian Kabbalah . In: Kabbalah: A Very Short Introduction , Oxford University Press, 2006.
  • SA Farmer: Syncretism in the West: Pico's 900 Theses (1486) , Medieval & Renaissance Texts & Studies, 1998, ISBN 0-86698-209-4 .
  • Christian Knorr von Rosenroth : Kabbala Denudata , 2 volumes; Hildesheim: Olms Verlag 1999; German version.
  • Friedrich Christoph Oetinger : The school chart of Princess Antonia ; Edited by Reinhard Breymayer and Friedrich Häußermann, 2 parts; Texts on the History of Pietism , Section 7, Vol. 1, Part 1.2; Berlin, New York: Walter de Gruyter , 1977; ISBN 3-11-004130-8 .
  • Giovanni Pico della Mirandola : Conclusiones philosophicae, kabblisticae et theologicae sive theses DCCCC, 1486 - Philosophical, Kabbalistic and theological conclusions
    • Oratio de hominis dignitate, 1486 - On human dignity .
  • Johannes Pistorius the Younger : Artis cabalisticae: hoc est, reconditae Theologiae et Philosophiae scriptorum, Tomus I ; Basel 1587.
  • Klaus Reichert: Pico della Mirandola and the Beginnings of Christian Kabbala . In: Karl Erich Grözinger , Joseph Dan : Mysticism, Magic and Kabbalah in Ashkenazi Judaism . Berlin: Walter de Gruyter, 1995.
  • Johann Reuchlin : De arte cabalistica ; Milan: ARCHÈ / EDIDIT, 1995; ISBN 88-7252-174-2 . Latin-French, original version from 1517.
  • Eva Johanna Schauer, Eberhard Fritz, Elisabeth Frister (eds.): Education - Faith - Salvation. The legacy of Princess Antonia of Württemberg . The Teinach school chart . Lindenberg im Allgäu: Kunstverlag Josef Fink , 2014. ISBN 978-3-89870-885-2 .
  • Wilhelm Schmidt-Biggemann (Ed.): Christian Kabbalah ; Ostfildern: Thorbecke, 2003.
  • Catherine Swietlicki: Spanish Christian Cabala: The Works of Luis de Leon, Santa Teresa de Jesus, and San Juan de la Cruz , Univ. of Missouri Press, 1987.
  • Chaim Wirszubski: Pico della Mirandola's encounter with Jewish mysticism , Harvard University Press, 1989.
  • Theodor Zechinger: The Christian Kabbalah from a Catholic perspective - exegesis and transcendence ; in: Res Theologicae 11 (1986); Hamburg: Münzinger, 1986; Pp. 68-81.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s Christian Cabala. Gangleri, May 17, 2007, accessed May 20, 2012 .
  2. ↑ a b c Don Karr: The Study of Christian Cabala in English . 2012, p. 1 ( digital-brilliance.com [PDF; accessed on May 20, 2012]).
  3. ^ A b c Walter Martin, Jill Martin Rische, Kurt van Gorden: The Kingdom of the Occult . Thomas Nelson, Nashville, Tennessee 2008, ISBN 978-1-4185-1644-4 , pp. 147–151 ( limited preview in Google Book Search [accessed May 20, 2012]).
  4. ^ A b Anthony J. Elia: An Historical Assessment of the Narrative Uses of the Words "Kabbalah", "Cabala", and "Qabala / h": Discerning the Differences for Theological Libraries . In: Theological Librarianship: An Online Journal of the American Theological Library Association . tape 2 , no. 2 . American Theological Society, December 2009, ISSN  1937-8904 , pp. 13 ( Online [accessed May 20, 2012]). Online ( Memento of the original from September 25, 2013 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / journal.atla.com
  5. ^ A b Harvey J. Hames: Exotericism and Esotericism in Thirteenth Century Kabbalah. Esoterica, accessed on May 20, 2012 .
  6. ↑ Gershom Scholem: The Jewish mysticism in their main currents (=  Suhrkamp Taschenbuch Wissenschaft . Volume 330 ). 1st edition. Suhrkamp Verlag, Frankfurt am Main 1980, p. 140, 412 (English: Major Trends in Jewish Mysticism . Translated by Gershom Scholem and Nettie Katzenstein-Sutro).
  7. ^ Don Karr: The Study of Christian Cabala in English . 2012, p. 2 ( digital-brilliance.com [PDF; accessed on May 20, 2012]).
  8. ^ Don Karr: The Study of Christian Cabala in English . 2012, p. 2 f . ( digital-brilliance.com [PDF; accessed on May 20, 2012]).
  9. ^ Don Karr: The Study of Christian Cabala in English . 2012, p. 20 ( digital-brilliance.com [PDF; accessed on May 20, 2012]).
  10. ^ Don Karr: The Study of Christian Cabala in English . 2012, p. 26 ( digital-brilliance.com [PDF; accessed on May 20, 2012]).
  11. ^ Don Karr: The Study of Christian Cabala in English . 2012, p. 48 ( digital-brilliance.com [PDF; accessed on May 20, 2012]).
  12. ↑ Andrew Duxfield: Doctor Faustus and Renaissance Hermeticism . In: Sara Munson Deats (Ed.): Doctor Faustus . A critical guide. Continuum, London et al. 2010, p. 100 .
  13. ↑ Andrew Duxfield: Doctor Faustus and Renaissance Hermeticism . In: Sara Munson Deats (Ed.): Doctor Faustus . A critical guide. Continuum, London et al. 2010, p. 98 .
  14. ↑ a b Andrew Duxfield: Doctor Faustus and Renaissance Hermeticism . In: Sara Munson Deats (Ed.): Doctor Faustus . A critical guide. Continuum, London et al. 2010, p. 108 .
  15. ↑ Andrew Duxfield: Doctor Faustus and Renaissance Hermeticism . In: Sara Munson Deats (Ed.): Doctor Faustus . A critical guide. Continuum, London et al. 2010, p. 107 .
  16. ^ Israel Regardie : A Garden of Pomegranates: Skrying on the Tree of Life . Edited and Annotated with New Material by Chich Cicero and Sandra Tabatha Cicero. 3. Edition. Llewellyn Publications, St. Paul, MN 2004, ISBN 1-56718-141-4 , pp. XIII, 138 ( limited preview in Google Book Search [accessed on May 20, 2012]).
  17. ↑ Karl RH Frick : The Enlightened . Gnostic-theosophical and alchemical-Rosicrucian secret societies up to the end of the 18th century - a contribution to the intellectual history of modern times. Akademische Druck- und Verlagsanstalt , Graz 1973, ISBN 3-201-00834-6 , p. 110 .
  18. ↑ Karl RH Frick: The Enlightened . Gnostic-theosophical and alchemical-Rosicrucian secret societies up to the end of the 18th century - a contribution to the intellectual history of modern times. Akademische Druck- und Verlagsanstalt, Graz 1973, ISBN 3-201-00834-6 , p. 109 .
  19. ^ A b Rachel Pollack: The Kabbalah Tree: A Journey of Balance & Growth . 2nd Edition. Llewellyn Publications, St. Paul, MN 2004, ISBN 0-7387-0507-1 , pp. 49 ( limited preview in Google Book Search [accessed May 20, 2012]).
  20. ↑ a b Gershom Scholem : The Jewish mysticism in its main currents (=  Suhrkamp Taschenbuch Wissenschaft . Volume 330 ). 1st edition. Suhrkamp Verlag, Frankfurt am Main 1980, p. 109 (English: Major Trends in Jewish Mysticism . Translated by Gershom Scholem and Nettie Katzenstein-Sutro).
  21. ^ Don Karr: The Study of Christian Cabala in English . 2012, p. 59 ( digital-brilliance.com [PDF; accessed on May 20, 2012]).